This blog started as a catalog of my food obsession. Well, my food obsession hasn't shrunk but I sure have: 55 pounds off and still going strong! Now I'm trying to make the plunge into primal/paleo eating. Expect lots of photos of the food I make.

Monday, December 19, 2005

Put everything but the olive oil in a saucepan and simmer for about 5 minutes. Cool completely, add the oil, and pour over about a pound of meat (I used steak, I think lamb would be great too) that's been cut into strips or chunks. Add half of an onion, chopped into large pieces. Marinate overnight (I marinate in ziplock bags with all of the air pressed out).

The next day, soak bamboo skewers in water for 15 minutes, then load with meat and onions. Turn on your broiler, with an oven rack about 7-8 inches below it (depends on how tall your pan is). Arrange kebabs on a rack in a roasting pan (or if you lack that, I arranged my kebabs points down in a circular casserole dish, so that they weren't resting flat on the bottom). Cook for about five minutes on a side (take the whole pan out and flip them, I wish I had tongs for this part), or more or less depending on how thinly your meat is sliced, how hot your broiler is, and how done you want them.

Serve over couscous.

I reserved the marinade and leftover onions (actually I used carrots too, not realizing what a dismal failure they'd be), boiled for long enough to kill nasty bits, and am going to use it to punch up some pea soup.

Mince the onion, garlic, and sage, or throw them in a food processor, and grind the spices. Add to the bread crumbs. Toss in your lamb, your egg, a little olive oil, and enough port to moisten everything. Knead with your hands, then stir with a spoon until thoroughly mixed. Form into 1 - 1.5 inch balls. There are two ways to cook them: you can either fry them in a little oil on the stove, or cook them in the oven for about 25 minutes at 375°.

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

I'm making candied orange peel as gifts for my relatives. The recipe I used is as follows:

5 orangesLots and lots of water

3 cups sugar3 cups water(Note: I'm pretty sure this was too much of each -- next time I'll only use two cups of each)

More sugar (probably about a cup)Ground spices: cinnamon, ginger, clove

Scrub the oranges thoroughly. Cut into quarters, remove the flesh (and eat it, duh). Cut each section of peel in half, and remove as much of the pith (the white part) as you can. You can then cut each piece in half again -- you want to end up with long, thin strips. Put them in a large pot (with a lid) with enough water to cover them completely. Bring to boil, turn down the heat, cover, and simmer for about 15 minutes (until they are tender). Let them sit until they have cooled, then put them in a large bowl (or just back in the pot), cover with cold water, and let stand overnight (uh, most people will tell you to refrigerate them, but that is totally for sissies). Next morning, drain the water and replace it with fresh. Drain/replace again at night. Drain/replace the next morning. You can repeat this for many days if you want (the Menagier says for 9 days!), but I usually give up at this point.

When you've drained the peels for the last time, put the sugar and water in the pot alone and bring to a boil. Add the peels, bring to a boil again, and then simmer. You will need to simmer them for a LONG time -- until basically all the water has evaporated. If you are some kind of "serious" cook you will use a candy thermometer, but if you are some kind of serious cook then why are you reading my blog? Anyway. Once the peels are ready, take them off the heat. While they have been cooking you should have gotten out a piece of wax paper (see? this is why you have to read all the way through before starting!) on which you spread out the sugar and spices. Now fish out the strips of orange peel a few at a time and drop them in the sugar/spice mix, coating them completely. Move them to a plate as you finish them, then do a few more. This will take a long time. When all of the pieces are coated, toss them all around together with the rest of the sugar/spice mix, just to make sure they're coated all the way. Transfer them to some kind of flat tray, or just spread them out on the wax paper, and let them dry overnight.

Box them up and give them to people.

If Amber weren't waiting for me to get off the internet I would post a long and rambling history of suckets/candied peels, but she is so I won't. They're old.

Put everything in a rice cooker and turn it on. If you don't have a rice cooker, put everything in a pot and bring it to a boil, then turn down the heat to low and cook for 20 minutes. Garnish with a boiled egg.

Thursday, December 01, 2005

Recall the rotisserie chicken from Costco. After buying it, I carved it up and stored the meat away safely, then used the carcass to make stock (with half an onion, half a leek, three garlic cloves, two small carrots, three bay leaves, some juniper berries, some mustard seeds, and 6 pints of water). And then, this is the genius part, I froze the stock in pre-measured 1 cup portions. I bought some of those disposable storage containers in "snack" size (9.5 ounces) to do this in. I don't know why it's taken me so long to do this, it makes so much sense. Now the stock will keep forever, and I don't even have to measure it when I want to use it.

As you can see, I'm pretty pleased with myself. I guess that this is the sort of thing that other people have figured out years ago, but, well, it's news to me.